Connecting a Blackberry to wdmcs.org email.

 Directions / Setup information for the Blackberry…

 To receive email on your Blackberry, enter the EMAIL application and set up a new email connection, using the following information…

 1) Your email address      xxxxxx@wdmcs.org

2) Your user id    (which is the first part of your email address, the section prior to @wdmcs.org)

3) Your password

4) Mail Server Address:     https://mail.wdmcs.org/OWA

5) Domain, if its requested:     wdmschools

My carrier told me that Blackberrys will work with Outlook – so why do folks say that it’s not fully compatible with our email? 
Blackberrys are compatible with Outlook – but most folks don’t want to sync with Outlook, which is the email at your computer at school computer.  Instead, most folks want to sync with Exchange, which is our email server, so that you can send/receive email any time of day, regardless of whether your school computer is on or not.

We do not have a Blackberry Enterprise Server.  Why not?
We’ve also heard carriers tell customers –  “Oh, your organization has the Blackberry Enterprise Server for this – everyone has it.”   Sorry, we do not have this server.  Why not?   Since the district does not pay for your cell phone or its service – there is no reason for us to pay for the Blackberry Server and its annual costs.  Since the cell phone is a personal item – we can not and should not spend tax payer money to support personal technology items.

What other options do I have, if I already have a Blackberry?
With that being said….  I have heard from users who have “rigged” various methods for getting their calendars and other information on their Blackberrys.  However, we’ve only listed it as compatible with email, because that’s all it will do “out of the box”.  It wouldn’t be fair to list the Blackberry as compatible with our calendar for the standard users, as some users may not be willing to redirect their information to Google or purchase other services in order to make the blackberry “appear” to be fully compatible.   At this time, we do not have directions for how to set up “work arounds” for the Blackberry.  Instead, we encourage to talk with your carrier or with other Blackberry users.

I have a CD given to me by my carrier – they told me to install this on my computer and it will enable my Blackberry to sync the calendar.  Can I have this installed? 
Sorry, no this can not be installed on the district computers –  the software requires that your machine be on 24 hours a day and that Outlook is always running on your machine.    We certainly don’t mind if you set this up to run on a home computer – but not on the district machines, as we need to make sure that others can log into the machines and that the machines are not running 24 hours a day.

Connecting a droid smart phone to wdmcs.org email.

How to connect your android phone..

There are two ways to connect your android phone. The first method is the easiest, and gives you immediate access to your email.  However, the catch to this method is that it will force you to use “conversation” view, which groups all messages with the same subject line together. If this is bothersome to you, please use Method 2 below.

Method 1 – Easiest Way

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Open Accounts & sync (some Androids call this Accounts)
3. Tap Add account.
4. Tap Google.
5. Enter your full email address and tap next, then enter your password.
6. Your phone is now connected to your WDMCS google account.
7. Open the Gmail app on your phone (make sure you are using the Gmail app and not the one called Email). You will see your new account there. If you had a personal account already tied to your phone, you may need to choose the menu in the upper left, and select your WDMCS account from the drop down list.

Method 2

1. On a computer, open your email.
2. Go to the settings wheel in the upper right, and down to Settings.
3. Click the tab for Forwarding and POP/IMAP.
4. Choose the button next to Enable IMAP and then Save Changes.
5. On your phone open the Email application.
6. If you already have another account in this application, tap and the Settings.  If this is your first account, choose Others.
7. Enter your full WDMCS email address and password, then tap Next.
8. Tap IMAP Account.
9. For ‘Username,’ enter your full email address
10. Update the Incoming Settings:
    1. For ‘IMAP server,’ enter ‘imap.gmail.com‘
    2. For ‘Port,’ enter ‘993’
    3. For ‘Security type,’ select ‘SSL”
11. Tap Next and fill in the Outgoing Settings.
    1. For ‘SMTP server’ enter ‘smtp.gmail.com’
    2. For ‘Port,’ enter ‘465’
    3. For ‘Security type,’ select ‘SSL’‘
12. Tap Next and continue through the setup options.  By default, most phones are set to check for new mail every 15 minutes, but this is one of the options you can set during the process.